


Saturday Night Vigilante

by MermaidFangs (orphan_account), TheRatava (orphan_account)



Category: RWBY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 22:27:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4454765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/MermaidFangs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/TheRatava
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruby is just so caught up in being alive!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saturday Night Vigilante

**Author's Note:**

> shrug emoji this was my application for a board rp and i decided to post it here cause its cool

For most people, life is a cycle- a pattern. For most people, life is rinse, repeat, die. 

A girl with big eyes that drank everything in like she was a blind man seeing for the first time, small hands that couldn't catch all the wonder falling from the sky, and a heart of gold that she would melt and forge into a weapon. That is the kind of girl that would beg to differ. 

Ruby Rose is this girl, bleeding ichor and getting right back up again when it pools around her feet and stains her skin. 

Live. Live. Live. Ruby is just so caught up in being alive! 

In breathing and loving and eating and spinning in circles until you're dizzy and getting caught in heavy rain and running and and and being alive.

Except when Weiss rips her blanket off her bed and yell at her to get ready and get ready quickly because they're going to be late, and honestly, Ruby, your scroll has an alarm for a reason!

She grumbles and literally rolls out of bed, landing on her feet, but still swaying a bit as she rubs the sleep from her eyes and tries not to yawn. As she blinks and adjusts to the midday sun pouring in through the open window, she sees that Weiss is already dressed, as well as Blake, and Yang is fixing the straps of her boots, before giving her little sister a grin brighter than the sun outside.

"No time to complain, Rubellite, we got a big day ahead of us!" No doubt that if Ruby had been in Yang's reach, she would've wrapped an arm around her neck and given her a noogie with that big laugh that fills the room. Instead, she nudges Blake's shoulder, as if trying to grab her partners attention and reel her into the conversation. "Aren't you guys excited?!"

"Of course I'm excited, but can't I be excited in bed for five more minutes?"

"No, you may not! As team leader, you need to wake up or I will start spraying you with water again!" Weiss says in all her pseudo-perfectness, chin held high as she scolded her partner. She holds herself like her hair doesn't fly in her face more often than it should've. Or like she's the one with the most world experience when in fact, despite being the daughter of the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world, she knows the least about how the "Real World" works. 

She's getting there. She's getting there. 

Ruby grumbles, giving up. She gives Zwei, her pet corgi who had been resting on the foot of her bed, a lazy pat on the head as she walks to the bathroom, picking up her day to day outfit on her way to the bathroom. Even after three months of living with her teammates, she still would rather change in private. While she and her sister had shared a room for a majority of her life and she had grown comfortable with her, being around other people was different.

It's always different when it came to other people.

\--

Six teams of four first years, six leaders and twenty four students in all. Some have more experience than others, some already have their weapons out and ready, and some are chatting away. Professor Goodwitch clears her throat, and the students fall silent, all looking to their teacher, awaiting her instructions.

"I hope you are all well rested, because the next few hours will be strenuous. Today will be a test of teamwork overall, so let us all pray that no one is butting heads, right?" A small smile crossed Yang's face and she nudged Weiss, standing beside her with perfect posture. Weiss just slaps Yang on the arm, and proceeds to ignore her teammate's snickering.

"Today will be very similar to your initiation; the only difference is that you will be working as a team, and how you will achieve your goal. There will be no puzzles or riddles to aid you. The moment you land your team leader, and only your team leader, will be given a map. You'll be able to find it on your scroll. "You must find your team leader, as well as your other teammates. Your goal is to stick together the whole day, and if your team arrives missing a member, or if they arrive before you do, you will fail. "I hope you have all improved your landing strategies. Good luck."

\--

The sound of metal against cartilage used to make Ruby wince. It's not a pleasant noise. When Ruby was little, she didn't expect being a hero meant that she would have to kill so much. She never really thought about that. For years it was always just saving people and scaring off the bad guys.

Until a little girl in her village died one night during a surprise beowolf attack.

Nothing could be recalled of the event besides the sound of gunfire and Yang crying as she held her little sister under the covers of her bed like a safety veil. The dawning realization that the world wasn't kind and Death was always looking at you right in the face, Death was always waiting—it was too much. 

That was when Ruby knew she wanted to fight. She would give her life. Death was patient, but life didn't have time to sit around and wait.

That's why Death adorned the face of white. Sharp teeth and claws and black fur that doesn't feel like fur, it's too brittle, too rough. Death is patient, and it will come for everyone. 

Some people had to fight back.

She's on the ground with her arms in an odd angle and dirt in her hair. Usually she would get up and fight back harder, get angry that her hair got dirty, but it doesn't even look like she's breathing from where Ruby is standing.

Death has taken the form of a beowolf once more, and it looms over Yang, snarling. It has Yang all to itself, yet it is slow about it, like it wants to relish in the fact that it is about to kill Yang in front of her sister and teammates, like it could actually feel anything besides the need to kill. 

She had been distracted. Three Ursa. More than enough bullets. Enough momentum to take down two at once. She didn't wince when the sound of cartilage scraped against the metal blade of her scythe. Her heel dug into the caved skull of the one she was standing on, and she tried not to stumble when its remains evaporated. 

Ruby was busy aiming for the third one's eyes when she heard her sister yell, and then a hard thump behind her. 

She couldn't look. She couldn't talk. She wasn't actually all that worried, because Yang was Yang and she would just get up and fight harder like she always did. 

But then Weiss was yelling at Ruby, her rapier lodged into Beowolf skull, unable to free Myrtenaster until she was able to grab the flame dust from her pocket. Blake was on the other side of the clearing taking on various Grimm, and was too busy to keep her eyes off of them. Ruby decapitated the final Ursa. 

She turned and saw the Beowolf lunging at Yang.

Ruby hears three screams. Blake calling out for Yang, herself crying out in fear, and Weiss, letting out what sounded like a war cry. She's too far away from Yang to make it on time, even with her semblance. A loud explosion makes her dizzy, makes her head feel like it itself is about to explode. Heat blasts from Ruby's left side, hot and heavy and eager to burn, and she almost falls over from the force. 

A loud whimper. Heavy breathing. Ruby is trying to recollect herself, her head spinning.

Weiss stands over the carcass of the Beowolf, her jacket singed—no doubt from the flame dust she had thrown on the ground and lit.

Ruby runs to her sister and leans next to her, pushing her gently to see that she's still breathing. Blood runs down her face from her hairline, and she's very much unconscious, but she would be fine.

She would be fine.

"Next time," Weiss states coldly as she yanks Myrtenaster out of the crumbling corpse, "You choose our battles instead of blindly trying to prove you have the best team."

\--

Great. Yelling. Nagging. Being told she's subpar and a loser. Just what she needs, really. 

"-And furthermore, you're childish behavior almost got your sister killed. You need to think before you do things, as well as f-" 

"Just when are you going to stop treating me like a child?"

"Perhaps when you stop acting like one. Does that sound like a plan?" Wow, another jab at Ruby's impulsive tendencies. How kind.

(See Weiss, Ruby can make jabs at peoples faults too, see?!)

"But– I– Weiss– " Her face contorts, sadness forming into anger. Determination. She stomps her foot on the ground and stands a bit straighter, looking at her partner with narrowed eyes. "Weiss, I really don’t like the fact that you seem to think that just because I can be really loud and obnoxious sometimes- I know, I know, I’m sorry, I can’t help it, it’s not my fault! But at least I'm trying to WORK on my problems! I just– I just– I am sick of it! I’m your leader- your partner and you treat me like an infant and it-!" A pause, her glare faltering. Time to shape up and actually say what you're thinking. It's going to sound childish. It's going to sound dumb. But it needs to be done.

"It just really, REALLY hurts my feelings, okay? I know you don’t like to talk about feelings and stuff, and you're working on it and I can respect that, but– but–

"C'MON!"

And for the first time in probably her whole life, Miss Weiss Schnee is speechless. Ruby would even go as far to say flabbergasted. 

With baited breath, Ruby waits for Weiss’s response. Her heart hammers in her chest like a war drum, sounding the horses and the knights, for now it is time to face the wrath of the Ice Queen. You will die, but it will be a warrior’s death, men. Would you rather be a coward or dead? Would you rather–

Wait, she's getting carried away again. And now Weiss is talking. Right, pay attention, Ruby. Her words are soft, and it reminds her vaguely of the night they had their first all out fight as partners, and how it had ended– bittersweet? 

UGH! Why was every encounter with Weiss so nerve-racking?

"First of all, we are going to change sometimes to all times, it's more accurate." She sighs, and while Ruby is hopeful at first, she feels her heart drop, because what if she just disappointed Weiss? She used to think Ruby wouldn't be a good team leader, and was proven wrong, but still...

Is she a disappointment? "It was never my intention to hurt your feelings, Ruby, please understand that. If the way I speak really affects you in such a negative way, than I suppose-" Weiss shifts to look at Ruby, and only then does she realize that Weiss has been standing in a defensive pose, arms crossed and head bowed, not meeting Ruby's gaze. Well, now she is. Now they-

Now they see eye to eye.

"I suppose I could try to work on treating you more...maturely." But only if you start acting more mature. That's what Ruby is waiting for Weiss to say, but those words never leave her lips. Instead, she just keeps her steady gaze, waiting for Ruby's response. (If she squints, she may have even seen the faintest hint of a smile.)

"Right– yeah, that sounds like it could work!" Weiss took Ruby’s outburst surprisingly well, and she's honestly surprised she isn't getting chewed out right now. She extends her arms, a hopeful note in her voice, "Hug it out?"

Weiss sounds almost amused when she responds. "Don't push your luck, I still don't like physical contact." 

"Worth a shot." 

"Now, let's go back to the infirmary. I'm sure our teammates are waiting to speak to you. I think Yang has finally woken up." Weiss doesn't look at Ruby when she says it, and as she's turning away to walk back to Yang and Blake, she gently grabs Ruby by the arm. 

Ruby smiles and very slyly slips her hand in Weiss's. Her partner says nothing, but there is most definitely a pink tint to her cheeks as Ruby takes the lead and drags her to the healer's wing.


End file.
